Aziz hints at policy review
Security Council seat for JapanTokyo, August
11
Pakistan on Wednesday hinted at reviewing its policy on UN reforms in favour of Japan if it dissociated itself from the G-4 group of states seeking permanent membership of the UN Security Council.

Pak addressing extremism
prudently: Musharraf
Islamabad, August 11
Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf today said Pakistan was committed to rooting out extremism in the country through a prudent approach and sought academicians’ support in addressing the sensitive issue.

UK to deport 10 foreigners
London, August 11
Britain detained 10 persons today who it said were a threat to national security and added that it planned to deport them. In a statement, Home Secretary Charles Clarke said the presence of the 10 unnamed foreign nationals was ''not conducive to the public good.''

Rushdie on Man Booker Prize list
London, August 11
Controversial Indian-born British novelist Salman Rushdie’s yet to be published tale of a boy who grows up to become an Islamic terrorist has won him a place in the Man Booker Prize long-list for fiction this year.

A worker looks at a huge portrait of late Pope John Paul II
in Cologne, Germany, on Thursday. More than 100,000 people took part in an action to build a mosaic of the Pope picture with portraits of themselves. Pope Benedict XVI will visit Cologne in his native Germany during the World Youth Day from August 16 to 21, which will be his first foreign visit since he was elected in April.
— Reuters

Islamabad, August 11
Pakistan today "successfully" test-fired its "indigenously developed" first-ever ground-launched cruise missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads which could reach targets up to 500 km and believed to be a match to India's Brahmos missile.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf described the successful launch of Hatf VII Babur as a "major milestone" in the country's nuclear programme.

"Our scientists and engineers have once again done the nation proud by mustering a rare technology," he said.

Without naming India, he said the test would reflect the country's resolve to meet emerging challenges and geo-strategic developments in its neighbourhood.

With the successful test of the missile, Pakistan has joined a select group of countries which have the capability to design and develop cruise missiles, a defence ministry statement said.

The "terrain hugging missile" has the most advanced and modern navigation and guidance system and a high degree of manoeuvrability, the statement said which did not mention the time or the location of the test.

Pakistan did not inform India about the test as an agreement reached between the two countries over the weekend on pre-notification of missile tests does not cover cruise missiles.

"The agreement on pre-notification of ballistic missiles, which has been finalised but not yet signed in New Delhi, does not cover pre-notification of cruise missile tests," a Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying in the media.

Pakistan has so far test-fired a range of small, medium and long range ballistic missiles with a range up to 1,500-2,000 km but this is for the first time that it has launched a cruise missile. All the missiles have the capability to strike many Indian cities.

It is believed to be a match to India's Brahmos missile. However, the Pakistan missile does not have a supersonic range like Brahmos.

The military said the technology used in the missile enables it to avoid radar detection and penetrate un-detected through any hostile defensive systems.

It also said that the missile was indigenously developed. "It is designed and developed by an elite team of scientists and engineers of Pakistan's strategic organisations," the statement said.
— PTI

Tokyo, August 11
Pakistan on Wednesday hinted at reviewing its policy on UN reforms in favour of Japan if it dissociated itself from the G-4 group of states seeking permanent membership of the UN Security Council.

“If the G-4 composition changes, we will review our position. Our relations with Japan are historic, Japan is our largest creditor, the single largest contributor to our debt,” Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said during a breakfast meeting with the international media here.

When a Japanese journalist asked if Pakistan would support Japan in its bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council if it left the G-4 group, the Prime Minister said: “If that framework changes, we will step back and see what to do.” However, he said it was a hypothetical question and the G-4 composition remained as it was.

The Prime Minister said UN reforms must be viewed holistically as the UN was a body which needed reforms and reinvention but reforms should not just relate to the UNSC alone, rather the entire UN family.

He said that Pakistan had a principled stand on UN reforms. It wanted reforms to be broad-based, equitable and democratic that did not create new classes of members within the current framework of the UN. Pakistan’s policy, he said, was not country-specific, rather it was generic and based on principles.

Mr Aziz said that Pakistan would not join an arms race with India but would maintain a minimum nuclear deterrence. Pakistan’s nuclear programme was aimed at maintaining strategic balance in South Asia, he added.

Islamabad, August 11
Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf today said Pakistan was committed to rooting out extremism in the country through a prudent approach and sought academicians’ support in addressing the sensitive issue.

“We are not dragging our feet, nor do we lack determination to deal with the complex problem, which has to be handled with care, it has to be addressed in its long-term perspective and not through use of force,’’ he said in an interaction with eminent educationists, scientists and researchers.

“Pakistan,’’ the President said, ‘’is certainly moving in a clearly defined direction to get rid of extremism and confronting terrorism with force,’’ adding, “These are the repercussions of 26 years of unrest, militancy and strife in Afghanistan and the region.’’

General Musharraf vowed to continue the country’s efforts for a societal change and described promotion of education at all levels as one of the means to achieve this objective. “The academics should support our endeavours by educating young minds with enlightened teachings of Islam, which call for tolerance and peace. The fight against extremism requires changing mindset and if our teachers lead by example, it would be greatly helpful in effecting a change for the better,’’ he said.
— UNI

“The government has notified Parliament yesterday about the significant changes in its laws regarding the export of dual-use nuclear technologies to India,” a Foreign Office spokesman said today.

The British decision comes close on the heels of the Indo-US nuclear deal paving the way for supply of nuclear fuel to Tarapore and other reactors, ending the three-decade-old freeze.

Under the relaxed rules, applications for items under the dual-use list of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) will now be allowed to India on a ‘case-by-case basis’ and only when their end-use will be in an IAEA-safeguarded civilian nuclear facility.

Applications for other licensable items, even those under weapons of mass destruction end-use controls, will also be opened on a case-by-case basis.

“We will be again opening the doors to Indian nuclear scientists and research organisations, academics and nuclear industry officials to come to the UK,” the spokesman said.
— PTI

London, August 11
Britain detained 10 persons today who it said were a threat to national security and added that it planned to deport them. In a statement, Home Secretary Charles Clarke said the presence of the 10 unnamed foreign nationals was ''not conducive to the public good.'' The men were held by immigration officers backed by the police.

After two bombing attacks on London, the government has spelled out plans to deport radical Islamists who it believes are inciting or glorifying militant attacks.

''Following months of diplomatic work we now have good reason to believe that we can get necessary assurances from the countries to which we will return the deportees so that they will not be subject to torture or ill-treatment,'' Clarke said.— Reuters

“We have scrubbed for at least 24 hours,” a NASA official said on NASA television.

The MRO was slated to blast off today atop an Atlas V rocket for a 25-month mission to survey Mars.

NASA had earlier given the go-ahead for the launch today, a day later than scheduled after problems with the 55-metre-tall, 335.6-tonne rocket arose yesterday.

But it had to postpone the mission again due to an “anomaly”, a NASA official said on NASA television.

By using enhanced lenses and flying at a low orbit, the Mars probe is expected to help scientists understand how water has moved on the planet’s surface and to pick out possible landing sites for future missions to Mars.

Learning about the history of water distribution is expected to shed light on possible previous Martian life forms.

The MRO will use a spectrometer that can detect minerals linked to the existence of water, a radiometer that analyses atmospheric dust, water vapour and temperature and an Italian radar that can look under the ground to detect water. — AFP

London, August 11
Controversial Indian-born British novelist Salman Rushdie’s yet to be published tale of a boy who grows up to become an Islamic terrorist has won him a place in the Man Booker Prize long-list for fiction this year.

Rushdie, who won the Booker prize in 1981 for “Midnight’s Children” (which also was awarded the Booker of Bookers in 1993), has been long-listed for his forthcoming work “Shalimar the Clown”, scheduled to be published next month.

Set in Kashmir, the tale of love and revenge is sure to stir up a fresh controversy for the author who was forced to hide from an Islamic ‘fatwa’ after the publication of “The Satanic Verses”.

“Shalimar the Clown” details the transformation of a young Muslim boy from a shy teenager to Islamic terrorist under the guidance of a radical mullah.

The shortlist will be announced on September 8 and the winner of the £50,000 prize on October 10.

In all, four former Booker winners and three first-time novelists are among the 17 authors vying for the award.